North American Turbocoupe Organization



I have some of the worst luck with this engine
BJL Offline
Moderator
#1
Can it be true, that again my car will never run correctly for a long period of time?
well now my car is missing hard once in a while has no accelerations and well fells like a shit box.
i tried to get my a/c working today, found out my clutch is bad, but its not frozen just wont engage even tho i have power going to it.
but it just not the same. i hoping it just the hot weather doing this. but if it keep sup like this running really bad, i may have to park it and replace it with a SHO or some other performance ford, i rather have 8 cylinders and no power adder, but anything will be better then my messed up interior, blow struts and shocks, tired out engine piece of junk turbo coupe I have. Man I’m depressed, over a stupid car. But hey the paint shines, ad the car looks good, just the rest is blaaaaaa


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Brian J Larkin
1988 Turbo Coupe 5spd, dark blue and shining like a peice of polished glass.
http://crazydriver358.5u.com
Brian Larkin
88TC 330,000 miles
Slightly Modified
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Walsted Offline
Posting Freak
#2
Quote:Originally posted by BJL:
i tried to get my a/c working today, found out my clutch is bad, but its not frozen just wont engage even tho i have power going to it.
I gather that you have enough pressure in the system? The clutch won't engage if the system is low on freon. Jumper both sides of the pressure sensor switch together (located on the accumulator/dryer) and see if the clutch engages. If so, it is probably a lack of freon or bad pressure switch.

Hope this helps.
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Mike Walsted - NATO member
1986 5-speed TurboCoupe and 1985 5-speed XR7

[This message has been edited by Walsted (edited 07-29-2002).]
Mike Walsted - Sold my 1986 5-speed TurboCoupe
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segfaultxr7 Offline
Posting Freak
#3
I definitely understand your frustration; as much as I love my TC if I've been through as much as you have with yours I'd be about ready to give up too!

But you do NOT want a SHO if you want a car that's trouble free and cheap to fix. The Yamaha engine, if well-maintained, is very reliable and long-lasting. Everything else sucks. The clutch/transmission is a beefed-up Escort setup. Burnouts will blow the differential in a very short time. Stock clutches die about every 60k-90k miles and having it replaced can run around $900 (mostly labor)! The Taurus platform has a reputation for electrical problems.

I've never owned a SHO so any of you guys that have one can feel free to correct me. However, I came very close to buying one, did a run of research on mailing lists and such, and came to the conclusion that I'd probably end up with a money pit on my hands. Stick to a Mustang GT if you want good reliable n/a power.
88 TC 5-speed
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revamp Offline
Member
#4
Brian,

Just wondering, but how hard do you drive your car, how often, and so on. Is it your everyday driver or casual cruiser? I know that this type of car is tempting to hammer around all the time, but sooner or later you will see that cars can only take so much. My best advice is that if this car continually does this(the performance and your wallet), is to move on from this one and buy a cheapo daily driver and then get yourself a new TC with a good record to start yourself with(and use the other as parts). You will learn with age on these things, believe me. Also..segfaultxr7 I can back you up on that with the SHO's. I had a relative that had two of them. Both were gone in about a year. These were bought brand new and both had gone in and out of hell of crazy electrical and AC problems. Maybe both were lemons, or maybe the SHO's are just sour...either way, it was no fun.
Before I had the TC, I had a regular tbird(also an 88). The car ran wonderful and barely ever had mechanical problems.. ran perfectly until an ass decided to fly through a red light and total it.Anyways, good luck on your car, and try to solve your problems in a way that will seem best fitting to you.

Good Luck,
Andrew
88 TC W/ 87K:
K&N in custom sanded airbox||Gillis Valve||Stereo Sytem: Pioneer 8400, Infinity Ref. Series & Polk Audio Speakers Powered by 4 Channel Pioneer Amps||Performance Radiator & Cooling System||Custom Interior Converion||Gutted Cat & Dynamax Ultra Flow Muffler||Indiglo Gauges ||and more to come!
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BJL Offline
Moderator
#5
Omn the a/c is the cluthc the fan kick in and out if i disconect the lowpressure sensor, (the sensor on top of the accumulater)

revamp: yes its my only and dialy driver. I do beat on it but ive eased up form alst year, but stil its stupid problems. ahh i ahte this ca,r hopefuly it sbetter, but as for the clutch for the transmisison i think i need new hydralics, but i look into it later.
The SHO is 95 for 2250, cheap, loosk nice, my brother works on oen identical to it all the tiem, the guy only has stupsi lil porblems, like sensor going, bu they guys uses it as his work car, so it reliabel but i dunon botu the oen im looking at.
Im not getting a ustang gt, i think i broek my dads last niht there is soemthign wrong with the cluthc the pedal sticks part wya up and featehr the cluthc unles i psuh the pedal bakc and act as if i dump it, ahh, frustion!!!!!!!!!!!
thansk for letting me vent (good luck reading this its horribel cuz im very agravated with cars)

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Brian J Larkin
1988 Turbo Coupe 5spd, dark blue and shining like a peice of polished glass.
http://crazydriver358.5u.com
Brian Larkin
88TC 330,000 miles
Slightly Modified
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jbsguy Offline
Junior Member
#6
I can back both of them up on the SHO. I speak from experience when I say they SUCK!!! There is a reason you brother is always working on one. Keep in mind that little problems add up, usually costing much more in the end. I had a 94 SHO. My dad bought it brand new with 6 miles on it. He was a business man and always on the road with it (when it ran). Over the course of the warranty period (about 2 years because of mileage) the car underwent about 6 thousand dollars in repairs. First the trans at 27k. Then the clutch at 30k. Before long tha A/C was gone. We had constant brake problems and at 54k the motor was dead. It wasn't due to lack of maintenance or abuse, the SHO was just poorly designed. After the motor was replace my dad sold me the car (stupid me) and at 86k the intake cracked. The cheapest estimate I could get was about 1500 to fix it. I got rid of the car at an auction and bought my 85 TC the same night. It was the best thing I ever did with that POS. If you want reliability and performane might I suggest a 96-97 Thunderbird. If you get th v-8 model you can do just about anything to it you can to a Mustang GT. My dad has a 97. We've done about $3k worth of mods in the past 5 years but let me say this. He has over 200k on it and will blow my TC away off the line.
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2ManyRecklesses Offline
Member
#7
jbsguy is dead on.. all my 3 dozen or so friends drive either a fast car or a big truck.. 3 drive 94/95 sho 5 speeds.. they all got 'em around the same time, and have all put out around 1700 for the clutch, another couple hundred for other tranny and diff things... jbsguy nailed it.. souped up escort tran&diff.. they don't drive them THAT hard.. they eat front tires alive and have non-stop electrical malfunctions.. however another friend has a 98 sho which is trouble free.. not yamaha.. not as fast.. not as fun.. automatic.. not as cheap to buy, but MUCH cheaper in the long run
"It takes two to lie, Marge. One to lie, and one to listen" - Homer Simpson.. my hero
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Jeff K Offline
Administrator
#8
Even the 97-98 V8 SHOs have some serious design flaws... the cam drive gears come loose from the ends of the camshafts (remember there are 4 of them!), and chew up the end of the camshaft, cam bearings, and even the head. Look under the hood of one of those... I think it would take me a whole weekend to change the spark plugs on a V8 SHO.

At least a TC is easy to work on compared to most cars these days, and dont forget the newest TCs are going on 15 years old, and the oldest ones are almost 20 years old... you have to expect some problems along the way. I have had my share of problems with my 212K mile 88TC (most recently an ABS problem, cost me all of $20 to fix), but in 2 1/2 years of ownership, it has never failed to start, and never left me stranded. I know plenty of people with new cars that have more problems with them than I have with my almost 15 year old 212K mile TC.

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Jeff Korn

88 Turbo Coupe: Intake and exhaust mods, T3 turbo at 20 psi, forced air intercooler, water injection, bypass valve, Ranger roller cam, subframes, etc., etc.. // 86 Tbird 5.0 (original owner): intake, exhaust, valvetrain mods, 100 HP nitrous, ignition, gears, suspension, etc., etc.... // 91 Escort: Bone stock winter car // 00 Windstar (wifes vehicle)
Jeff Korn

88 Turbo Coupe: Intake and exhaust mods, T3 turbo at 24 psi, forced air IC, water injection, BPV, Ranger cam, subframes, etc., etc.
86 Tbird 5.0 (original owner): intake, exhaust, valvetrain mods, 100 HP N2O, ignition, gears, suspension, etc., etc.
11 Crown Vic Interceptor
14 Toyota Camry (wifes car)
95 Taurus GL Vulcan winter beater
67 Honda 450 Super Sport - completely customized
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BJL Offline
Moderator
#9
Well thsi car has lef tme stranded 5 times, 2 tiems for head gasklets, twioce for ythe Ford TFI modules and one tiem for a bad batteyr termail wire. but constanyyl a runnign problem ,liek one weke il egt 500miles out of tank of gas, next weke it woudl be 300, this was when i wa sin shcool doign the same hting every day. it woudl fluxuate like that. just tiem to get soemthign more reliable, I want brand new, but my wallet5 says keep dreamin. my dad says wiat, so ugh, stres . grrr,

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Brian J Larkin
1988 Turbo Coupe 5spd, dark blue and shining like a peice of polished glass.
http://crazydriver358.5u.com
Brian Larkin
88TC 330,000 miles
Slightly Modified
Reply

segfaultxr7 Offline
Posting Freak
#10
Jeff K beat me to mentioning the V8 SHO's camshaft problems. Take a look at www.v8sho.com if you're interested, quite a lot of people are having problems with that engine. Those cam gears are just pressed on, without even a roll pin to keep it in place. When they come off, it's basically the same as breaking a timing belt. And it's an interference engine that costs $15k+ to replace!

I like the SHO a lot, but I could never afford to keep one on the road. [Image: smile.gif]

My TC has stranded me twice, neither of which I can really blame it for. First was the timing belt, I knew I was pushing it with 90k on the original 14 year old belt. I had intended to get it replaced within the next week. She didn't want to wait that extra few days. [Image: smile.gif] The other time was from a 2-day-old Motorcraft TFI module.

[This message has been edited by segfaultxr7 (edited 07-30-2002).]
88 TC 5-speed
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